Topic: Aussie IR Lesson - Gravy 1 - Nut Gravy

[Masala Mark]

Hi all,

Sorry for the delay in getting these posted. I can see know why pics & vids make such a difference as it's kind of hard trying to describe some things like the consistency of things at various stages.

I'm sure a lot of you will go 'Huh?' when you read one of the dishes that this goes in. I asked him two or three times if he had the right dish. The end taste of the dish in question was great though.

Reading through the recipes/discussions on this site there are often discussions about what makes this dish, this dish if that makes sense. There do seem to be big variations in different IRs recipes though. Within our suburb here in Brisbane, there are 3 IRs that we frequent. Each one of them makes a completely different Butter Chicken. One is very heavy on tomatoes but thinish consistency, another is strong tomato but very very thick with a great smokey flavor coming from fried onions, and the other one is heavy on nuts and you can only get a hint of tomato. Each tastes great but very different.

As with all things it is easy to judge and criticize things before we try them. I must admit that after making this gravy and talking with him about what it was used in, I felt like I had been duped and wasted a lot of money and time, on the chef and all the ingredients.

But 5 hours later my scoffing had changed to 'scoffing' down the food!

On to the first of the gravies...

Nut Gravy

Ingredients:
- 0.5 cup Vegetable Oil
- 2 sticks Cassia Bark (approx 5cm long by 1 cm wide)
- 6 Green Cardamom Pods
- 1 Indian Bay Leaf (broken into bits)
- 5 Cloves
- 1.5 kg Onions
- 1 tbsp Salt
- 2 tbsp Ginger/Garlic puree (50:50)
- 1 tbsp Coriander Powder
- 1 tbsp Cumin Powder
- 1 tbsp Turmeric Powder
- 350g Cashews/Cashew pieces
- 350g Almond meal

Prep Work:
- Fill a food processor with as much of the cashews as possible and add water, puree to a very, very fine puree. Repeat until all done.
- Blend onions in a food processor to a very fine chop, not puree. If the processor does end up pureeing them then it will take longer to cook and require more oil.
- Ginger/Garlic puree is made 50/50 rough ratio with a little water to aid processing

Method:
1. Heat oil till just shimmering
2. Add whole spices and fry till aromatic and sizzling
3. Add onions and mix well
4. Add salt and mix well
5. Continue cooking the onions until golden brown, this may take some time ~30mins depending upon how chopped and the cooking medium, ie gas/electric etc. The oil will separate from the onions once they are cooked, this is the visual to go to the next step.
6. Add garlic & ginger puree and cook for a min or two
7. Add ~1 cup of water and mix through, the heat in the pan should be enough that the mix is bubbling away when the water is added in
8. Add powdered spices, mix well and fry a min or two
9. Add 2 cups of water, mix through and bring to a boil
10. Add cashew paste, bring to a boil
11. Add more water, another 2 cups was used, and continue to cook for another hour covered. It should be a sloppy but not running consistency, it should pour off the spoon rather then fall and dollop.
12. Add almond meal and cook for another 30 mins. The almond meal will thicken the mix considerably, additional water can be added to get back to the consistency mentioned above, or leave as is and add additional water when making a curry.

No extra water was added in the lesson, it was left very thick, and thickened up much more in the fridge. If keeping for a few days or longer then the thicker/drier the mix the better.

Use:
- From this sauce, 2 1/2 heaped tablespoons of it would be used in a single serve Korma
- The quantities listed above made enough for our family to have a Korma a week till early 2011 I'd say!
- Used in Korma, Navrattan Korma, Madras (yes, Madras! I'm still kinda surprised by this, but it tasted great. The only Restaurant Madras that I have had was tomato based so this was a very new experience for me. I looked at the 7 IR takeaway menus that we have and to my surprise they all have coconut milk/cream mentioned in them, this too goes into the Madras, more info on that one to come...)

Notes:
- It is always the same ratio of onions to nuts, 2:1. The split of nuts is 50/50 but will not be affected if the nut ratio is altered, ie more cashews/less almond meal etc.
- Cooking to a thicker paste will store better in the fridge rather then the consistency used in the restaurant

[Stephen Lindsay]

Great post Mark I can imagine this producing an aromatic gravy. You say that only 2 1/2 tbsp will go into a Korma so I'm wondering if you are intending to post recipes to show how a Korma (or a Madras) would be put together.

By the way in method point 7 there is a squiggle "~" and I'm not sure if this is a typo or if there should be some other number in its place.

[gazman1976]

Great posts - lookin forward to more from your kind self

Garry

[976bar]

Mark,

This just shows and proves the many different variants to an Indian Restaurant style curry, I doubt anyone here in the UK has ever heard of a nut gravy before, and I can honestly say that it is a welcome addition to our collection

I, probably amongst others can't wait to see some of your recipes from down under so to speak........

Keep up the good work!!

[commis]

Hi
976bar, check out "one page cook books" it explains most of the gravy styles used in Indian cooking.
Regards

[976bar]

Hi Commis,

Is there a link to go with that or is it just a book? and if so who by?

I'd like to check it out

[commis]

Hi
Sorry can't do links on my BB, do a google I think the bases was posted as "primers" if you can't PM me will a email addy and I will forward them to you.
Regards

[976bar]

Thanks for that Commis, I'll check it out

[Masala Mark]

...By the way in method point 7 there is a squiggle "~" and I'm not sure if this is a typo or if there should be some other number in its place.

Hi Stephen,

Sorry, the tilde ~ symbol is sometimes used as shorthand for approximate, apologies for the confusion.

On a side note, I made your Chasni a week or so ago prior to the lesson, absolutley fabulous, great job! Never had one before, and had never seen one in a menu either. I did end up finding an IR in a suburb close by that has it on their menu with a mention of cashew nuts in the sauce as well.

Cheers,
Mark

[Panpot]

Fantastic Post Mark, it is just wonderful to have this new twist to all our passion here. Looking forward to having a go and to reading more of your recipes in due course